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Lena Dunham recommended War Room (2015) in Movies (curated)

 
War Room (2015)
War Room (2015)
2015 | Drama
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"My friend Audrey Gelman showed me this film as the beginning of my political education. While it is a documentary that provides a ton of backstory on the Clinton campaign and the art and science of electing a president, it has the pace and power of a good thriller produced by George Clooney with David Strathairn in at least one role with gravitas."

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Bobby Gillespie recommended Maggot Brain by Funkadelic in Music (curated)

 
Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
1971 | Rhythm And Blues
9.3 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"George Clinton is very important to us. In fact, George, Sly Stone, Miles Davis and Curtis Mayfield are all people we're inspired by and look up to. I'm lucky to have become friends with George. We played a show last year with his band in London and he's just an amazing guy. I remember getting this album, listening to it and thinking, "Free your mind and the rest will follow." It's free, psychedelic, sexualised funk. Also, there are incredible lyrics. George is a great lyricist, one of the best. On one track, George was told to play a guitar solo and imagine that he was just told that his mother had died. Funkadelic can go from real, emotional, plaintive with a song like 'Maggot Brain' to a big, acoustic funk track. The message from the band is that you can do anything. George had many great musicians in his band and he changed it around, you just never know who was going to play on the track. It always sounds like Funkadelic because of George's vision."

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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Asymmetry in Books

Jan 17, 2018  
Asymmetry
Asymmetry
Lisa Halliday | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Asymmetrical stories
Lisa Halliday's novel of three parts charts the relationship between an eccentric older writer Ezra Blazer, his young lover Alice, and then moves quickly to the story of an American Iraqi attempting to find his roots.

Individually, each story is captivating, Halliday's ability to bring humour with subtle behaviour is remarkable. Similarly, her research into Iraq is interesting - though at one point I did get confused as she mentions the Clinton administration's foreign policy role during the second Gulf War when it should be under George Bush. I'm unsure whether this is a typo or a genuine mistake or I'm wrong altogether.

While each part is well-written, and the first story is completed in the third part when Ezra's character becomes a guest on BBC's Desert Island Discs, it all feels rather disjointed. Perhaps this is why the novel is named Asymmetry as a result? We may never know.
  
Get Funked Up!: The Ultimate Collection by Parliament
Get Funked Up!: The Ultimate Collection by Parliament
2000 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"In Talking Heads, the record collection was filled with Hamilton Bohannon, James Brown, Roxy Music, Funkadelic, and P-Funk, that whole world. George Clinton and his whole crazy P-Funk philosophy was great; they were doing these kind of spectacles. As we kept making records, they evolved into more rhythmic affairs, kind of weird, white-person funk. We decided that in order to represent this music live onstage, we needed to recruit some real funkers into the band. The size of the band pretty much doubled. It was a big, nervy thing to do, and it was a mess at first. But man, was it fun. In this period, I decided to formalize the tour into a show that became Stop Making Sense. And that was about as far as we could go with that idea. It liberated me musically, but also as a person. The music was a lot more ecstatic, almost trance-y; you could get lost in it, way more than you could when it’s just a four piece."

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Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
David Frum | 2018 | History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A thoughtful, well-argued factual account of the US presidency
I actually enjoyed this rather Republican perspective of the Trump administration, especially as it seems to be less sensationalist than Michael Wolff's controversial book, @Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

Former George W. Bush speechwriter, David Frum, writes about the biggest threat to democracy in a factual, scholarly way without resorting to tabloid remarks. Frum carefully builds his argument using well-recognised sources from across the political, historical and media spectrum.

While he is clearly not a fan of the President, his critique mostly focusses on how Trump distorts and uses his power unconstitutionally, attempting to subvert institutions for his own benefit. But he also criticises those around him who have helped him stay in power such as Paul Ryan and Michael Flynn. What is worrying is the increase of military personnel and financiers who surround him, similar to those of many authoritarian nations, who exacerbate irrational decision-making.

He speaks about his voter base which also includes swathes of young white men, who are disillusioned and care less about religion and sexism - hence why Hillary Clinton was unable to change their minds. It is a well-argued, eye-opening book that does not resort to character bashing.